I had always wanted a 914 since I was a kid. I got one a few years ago. Its took me about a year to work through all the issues but now it runs great. People like to see it every time I take it out. Fun to drive.
Watching you trying to remove the axle nut brought back memories of doing brakes on my 69 type 1. My uncle was helping me and my dad do the work. While trying to get the last hub nut off, my uncle broke his Craftsman ratchet (very stout breaker bar used as well). No problem. Off to Sears for a no questions asked replacement. Within 3 minutes, the 2nd Craftsman ratchet was toast. Never got that nut off, and my Dad got the craftsman replacement the following week at a different store
15 years ago I saw a 914 for sale on someone's lawn. Bad place for any car. Looking in the car told me the lawn needed mowing. They were asking 7500. Oh well.
I realise you're mostly done with body work and others have already pointed this out, but i can't stress enough how much better a gas sheilded mig would serve you. Especially considering how plentiful and affordable they've become. Good work so far and its nice to see another type 4 build as there aren't that many here on youtube!
Okay so with some Porsche 914s people fall into it will cost too much to make it road worthy, however as a passion project go for it. I just like the idea of this car being the true mid engine love child of VW and Porsche.
That's what I like about it too. I like that it never really fit in to the Porsche world but is relatively embraced by the VW world. 914s can be really, really terrible projects to take on if certain areas of the body are rotted out and if the interior is missing or trashed.
He is @CarWizard on youtube. He's actually an excellent mechanic and has a shop where they work on exotics constantly. The video this clip is from is about which Porsche to buy from each decade. The segment with the 914 was funny because he more or less reiterates the same general take people tend to have about 914s not being a real Porsche. I included it because I thought it was funny! He goes on to say he's never worked on one let alone driven one. His channel is really good, I'm not knocking the guy in the slightest. His complaints are not completely unfounded but the same can be said about any 45+ year old car.
What is the part number of that spark plug wire holder that you bolt onto the crankcase vent chimney? I can't find it anywhere. I can't even find it in the Porsche PET.
I have no idea. It's really just an L-shaped piece of metal with a hole in it for the mounting point and a hole on the other end for the spark plug wires. Pretty easy to make if you had to.
The comments from the guy in the intro (@carwizard) were made in earnest! I included that clip because I thought it was funny, the reinforcement of the old trope about 914s not being a real Porsche. Later in that video the clip is from he actually says he's never worked on a 914 let alone driven one.
You made another mistake trying to put the front and rear crank seals in the engine case before you bolted the case back together. The end play of the crank has to be adjusted to specs before the front and rear crankshaft seals are installed. Moreover, the three (3) adjusting shims for the crank end play have to be installed before the rear main seal is installed into the case. Without those three (3) end play shims, you will destroy that new engine upon initial start up. You should watch the Jake Raby video on how to rebuild and re-assemble the Type 4 engines used in 914's and VW Buses, available from the Type 4 store online. Also watch the more recent Ian Karr videos on RU-vid on how to rebuild a 914 engine. Did you check the oil pump for clearance with the new bolts that hold the cam gear to the new camshaft? Sometimes those bolts need to be ground down to provide proper clearance between the rear of the oil pump and the new cam gear bolts. I would never try to re-use an old used rear main seal. New seals are relatively cheap and the labor time needed o replace the rear main seal is huge compared to the cost of a new rear main seal. Last, but not least, did your helper who installed the new cam gear bolts tighten them to specifications? If not, the cam gear is likely to come loose and cause major engine damage. Did you install the clearance washer on the bottom of the distributor drive gear shaft; and time the offset slot in the izzy drive gear shaft to the TDC position? I did not see that step in your video. You also appear to have failed to install the rear metal cam plug into the case before you bolted the two case halves together. The metal cam plug can't be installed after the case halves have been bolted together! Looks like a lot of mistakes have been made in putting this engine back together. (Or the skipped items I noted were not shown in this video) Please correct them before you try to start that engine.
I'm not so sure about checking the endplay with the rear main seal out. I've watched both the Raby videos and Ian's videos extensively. I was always under the impression you check the endplay after you've put the flywheel on. Anyway, that will be in the next video, along with the install of the oil pump. Yes: torqued the cam gear bolts, washer on the distributor, made sure it was in TDC, installed cam plug. Theres a lot of stuff I didn't explicitly show in the video due to having to go through hours and hours of footage to try to trim it down to under 20 mins. (the average view time is 3 mins)
Yikes!!! When you cleaned off the front crank journal with 1000 grit emery paper, it looks like you failed to use an air hose/pipe cleaners to clear out all the grit from the crank oil holes before you re-assembled the forgotten main bearing and timing gear/dizzy drive gear.. That residual grit gets into the oil passage holes and will ruin your new bearings immediately upon start up.
Yeah, I cleaned it before I put the bearing on. Lots of stuff left on the cutting room floor. Not too exciting watching everything being sprayed with brake cleaner over and over.
Try using the "Dawn" brand liquid dishwashing detergent in the ultrasonic cleaner. I have it works great, just as good, if not better, than Simple Green, plus being a lot cheaper. I have also discovered that running parts through a cycle of our dishwasher works really well for cleaning up 914 aluminum heads, but one after you have cleaned off all the big, external, oil and grease buildup with a rag, brush and some paint thinner or old gasoline.
Good for you for saving another one!! I like the detail at how you are doing it. None of my 914's had that kind of rust, but I am always curious how you do it to this level. Keep em coming!! Thumbs up!
Loving the restoration! You are going about things in the right way. Need to be really careful to replace the suspension consoles in the proper location. I've been through this on two other 914s and they are really worth saving because they are so much fun to drive. You don't have to go 100 miles an hour to have fun in a 914. Just driving around town at normal speeds is fun because they are so connected to the road.
Thanks! I measured the other side before I locked down the console in to position and I think I'm at least within 1/16th". I figured that is probably pretty important.
I owned two. A 73, and a 74, almost bought a "creamsicle" 74 2.0 Wish I did... Be different... Buy a 9146 chassis stiffening kit, upgrade the brakes to 911 S, and then find a 928 S motor, and drop it in, you won't be sorry.. It makes me sick to see people put LS Chevy small blocks in these cars. I would keep it pure. There are a few 928/914 conversions on RU-vid. The only problem I see is that the water pump on the 928 sticks out a little too far far, but that is easily rectified 5 blocking off the original location and using an electric pump to feed radiators in the front. That way you don't need to cut the firewall. These are great cars they deserve the status they never got before
Sorry wizard, you just don't get it. I wonder how many 87 escorts are on the road and running. These cars are a blast to drive. Their main problem was rust as was most of the cars of their era.
Regarding the Wizard's opening remarks - The 914 was no less underpowered than the 356 or 912 of the same era. Most 914s are in poor shape compared to 356s and 911/912s because 914s were inexpensive, and so owners didn't treat them with respect. But something to consider Wizard - In the 1970 24 hours of LeMans, a 914 with a six cylinder (914/6) finished 5th OVERALL, beating every 911, heck every non-racecar that managed to cross the finish line (the race is so grueling many cars back in those days failed). @autoDIYdactic good luck with your restoration - keep posting videos!
